Another Chance
by Wandere Misteria
Summary: On their final trip, Wander and Sylvia somehow get into an accident. They lose their lives, dying together - not exactly the way a certain villain wanted them to go, but exactly the way the nomads wanted to go. Now, they've been granted another chance to experience life again, but the question is... Will they find each other again among the stars and stop Lord Hater just in time?
1. The Zbornak

_Everything has to begin with something small. That's the way joy can spread. That, and helpin' folks spread joy is good._

So was the thought that manifested in the pleasant deep orange Zbornak's mind as he stacked boxes on top and gently dusted off the various items on display in the store with a duster, whistling as he did so. The store this Zbornak kept was small and humble; it didn't boast of wealth and corruption, like so many other stores in the neighborhood. And the things he sold were small and tasty - jellyfish pies for those with excellent taste, apples of various colors, sugar cubes for the occasional Zbornak who came into the shop, and a few select items, which he kept in the backroom for his customers if they wanted them.

Overall, the store was great when it came to food from different planets and galaxies.

The Zbornak himself was noticeably larger than normal, the horn atop his nose a little taller. There was a light blue mane along the back of his head, and to match it, there was a small goatee on his chin, as well as a mane at the end of his tail. Also a little overweight, but he didn't mind. That was one of the consequences of eating too many jellyfish pies and not exercising enough.

Ah, life was good for him. Or the best it could be with Lord Hater dominating the universe, anyway. There wasn't an alternative to consider; Lord Hater had been ruling since before the Zbornak shopkeeper was born, and anyone who could have gone up against him - they were dead and gone. The skeletal ruler had seen to that.

_No, no, I gotta think of somethin' positive. Like jellyfish pies! Yeah! That's what I should be thinkin' about. I woooonder if people will come today..._

The shop bell rang, heralding the arrival of several small children and prompting the shopkeeper to turn around to greet them with the same sunshine-y smile he'd carried all his life. These children were frequent visitors to his store, sometimes asking him to tell stories as they chewed and gulped their treats. At other times, the shopkeeper and the children gathered in a circle when they'd heard bad news. It was as if the deep orange Zbornak had a small family that he tended to on occasion, and indeed the feeling made him smile as he realized the latest visitors were these children.

"Mr. Wander, may we have some jellyfish pie, please?" the littlest child asked, holding out his hands. In them was a crisp stack of fat yellow coins, which said Zbornak took with hesitation and put into a small bag on his person. Wander did not like to take money from these innocent children, but it was how it had to be done these days - if he went too long without money, the local city would shut his store down and banish him to a different place. He'd be unable to gather food for himself. And the army would claim him as one of their soldiers, which was definitely not a fate he wished upon himself and others.

"One moment, please," Wander said cheerfully as he bustled about, searching for that cherished delicacy. He went into his storerooms, located the box containing these pies, and got two pies. With these items in hand, he proceeded to grab one of the bags lying on a nearby table, and put the pies into it, wrapping the opening tightly with a worn string as he returned to the gathering of the small children.

"Thank you, Mr. Wander," the child said happily when he received the bag. The other children crowded around him, then looked up at Wander himself.

"You're really welcome!" Wander said and smiled at them. "I just love bein' with folks like ya."

Truly, he loved to be around children. Children were the foundations of a society; they eventually became the leaders of whatever occupation they'd chosen. They were amazing for their beliefs and thoughts, and most of all, their attitude toward almost everything that passed them by. And even though Wander was in his mid-thirties, he was still a child at heart.

"Us too! Us too!" the children cried. "You're the best, Mr. Wander."

"Nah, it's ya," Wander said humbly as he retreated to the front windows and rearranged the contents within, making sure they weren't out of order. Then he peered out the window. Snow was starting to fall outside, a light snow. It was always nice to see the surroundings change as the seasons changed; it meant life was still going on, despite all the hate and evil that their ultimate ruler brought on them. The key was to provide these children with a light future where hate was no longer the main character in the never-ending story of life.

"It's startin' to snow outside. Perhaps you'd like to stay inside until it stops? After all, I can't have ya folks gettin' all sick," the Zbornak offered, gesturing to the windows. "I'll go get some hot chocolate and cookies in a little bit."

The children looked where Wander was gesturing. To them, the prospect of staying with this kindly shopkeeper was appealing. However, the littlest one who had spoken before now spoke up in a timid-sounding voice. "We don't mean to hurt your feelings, but we gotta go home. Our mommy told us to go home this time instead of staying here... She doesn't wanna hear about us getting into danger, you see, Mr. Wander. Is it ok with you?"

The words took a little time to sink into Wander's consciousness, bringing with them a sense of loneliness as he realized what they meant. But he was able to shrug it off, and replied in the same cheerful voice, wagging his tail slightly, "Of course it's okay with me! Your mother must be worried right now. Why didn't you say so earlier? Anyway, if you're leavin' so soon, I gotta give ya somethin'. It's not much, but I hope you little adorable folks like it!"

And the cheerful Zbornak whipped out several items from seemingly out of nowhere, then pushed these items into the small hands of the children, saying, "These are blankets I made myself when I had free time this morning. I'd planned to give them away to folks who needed 'em, buuut you're the ones in need of this right now, I can see that."

His smile was full of sunshine, pure and simple, like his appearance. Like always.

The blankets were relatively small and warm, each and every one of them bearing common pattern and shape. The general color was a light shade of blue, tinged with shots of pink here and there to add some warmth to the color scheme. Blue and pink, as well as orange, were the colors Wander liked best, since they always seemed to put him into a peaceful mood for some reason when gazing at them. He'd worked patiently on the blankets, humming as he did so, occasionally stopping to gaze at said colors he was putting into them.

"Whoa, thanks, Mr. Wander," the children piped up again, this time in almost perfect unison. They spread out their blankets and wrapped them around themselves, looking very cozy. "They're neat!"

"It's no big deal," the shopkeeper said, waving away the thanks and smiling serenely at them. "Well, I guess this is it for today, guys. See ya later!"

"Wait... are you gonna charge these?" one of the kids asked anxiously.

"Nope! I can't ignore folks who are needin' help, and help is always free!"

As the children, sighing in relief, retreated into the snow outside after thanking him, Wander couldn't help but wonder if these kids would make it safely to their mother's house. And why had their mother told them they had to go straight home after buying something from him instead of prolonging their visit this time?

_I must be lookin' too much into this._

He shook his head and looked around at the room. There were no customers right now, and it seemed like it would stay this way until the weather cleared. Ah, well. He didn't mind in the slightest, although there was a vague longing for conversation with anyone, _anyone_ who happened to walk into the store. Anyone.

If there were going to be no customers at all today, he might as well go to bed since there was nothing else to do. But Wander knew it wouldn't be likely for a while yet, so he plopped himself upon a chair and began whittling away at a small piece of wood on a table with a knife he'd found somewhere close by. As he worked, he moved his head from side to side, like he was listening to some catchy music, and one of his feet moved in accord with his head as the snow fell outside. It was comfortable here.

Slowly, the rough wood gained definition, approximating in size and shape the head of a Zbornak. For some reason, when Wander saw what he was creating, he gave a little sad sigh, his blue mane responding by lowering itself - an indication of the current mood he was in. He didn't know why, but this head seemed to evoke a feeling of incompleteness and sadness. It was just something he'd carved without thought, so why should this have inspired such feelings?

Still, he continued working on the Zbornak head until he felt satisfied (and reassured) all necessary details had been carved into it and that every inch of it was perfect, from the top of the head down to the neck, at which point it stopped. He looked down at the floor and realized there were scraps of wood carvings gathered around his chair, then looked at the window to see how much time had passed. With some gentle shock, he noticed night had fallen, silencing all outside details with pure darkness.

So not a single customer had come? Well, that was fine. It was probably because of the earlier snow that they had not come here. Yeah, that was it.

With his tail, Wander gathered the wood carvings and pushed them into a corner of the room, planning to put them in a garbage bag when he had time. He inhaled a little on the surface of the wooden Zbornak head and rubbed it with his free hand, ensuring that it had shine. He would polish this curious item sometime in the coming days, and keep it for himself. Just why had he carved the head of his species, when he could have carved anything other than it?

_I'm thinkin' too much... It isn't important to me. Or is it? I don't know... I think I'm gonna keep this thing._

Clearly, if he thought too much about this, it was time for him to go to bed and be well rested for another round of keeping the shop tomorrow. So he placed the item on one of the high shelves and retreated into a long narrow hallway, going until he stopped at a door in the wall and went into a room. There was a large round blanket in the center of the room, which had the function of a bed. Like the small blankets from earlier, it was blue with hints of pink. A tiny table lay in the corner, bearing nothing but a single candle, which was lit at the moment.

This candle was blown out by Wander. He needed darkness to be alone with his thoughts as he drifted off to sleep, into the land of wonderful dreams and untold things. Of planets and stars, of many things.

"Well... good night," the orange shopkeeper said aloud to no one in particular as he curled up on the blanket and pulled what was left of it over himself, wrapping his tail around himself. Only his snout peeked out from under it.


	2. The Guest

**A/N: I apologize for not updating this story and the Wandere Over Yandere story for a while; I've been busy, but now that I'm on holiday break, I might as well take advantage of it to write new chapters for the two stories! If any questions arise while reading this, or you have ideas for inclusion of your OCs in this story, be sure to leave it in a review and I'll do my best to address them in PMs. Please keep in mind that I cannot answer the reviews of people who have not registered for an account on this site, however.**

**"Gimme the good stuff!"**

* * *

_Knock knock!_

The sound of someone knocking on a door in the distance slowly made its way through Wander's sleepy brain, and rang until he acknowledged it, groaning rather loudly as he stretched out his neck and looked around at the darkness in front of him. He was partially enveloped in his blanket, much of it wrapped around his body. It was a good thing the fringes around its edges hadn't gotten tangled with the blue tufts located on the Zbornak's tail - otherwise, he would have had problems getting the fringes to part safely with his tufts, as the blanket was something he treasured, having the strange capacity to comfort him in times when things weren't too dandy in the neighborhood.

As Wander sat up to rub the sleepiness out of his eyes and to get his blanket off, the knocks became more insistent, each slightly louder than before. He wondered who would come calling at this late hour; hadn't he fallen asleep a few hours earlier? And he doubted it was already morning because he had a natural tendency to wake up at the appropriate time to run his shop, which was sometime in the morning. Who would visit him so late?

After replacing his blanket on the floor in the middle of the room, the orange Zbornak walked up to the door and wrenched it open. He continued down the hallway and stopped at a door, then opened it to let himself into the store. The knocks were still being heard, and they seemed much more loud now. Of course, he'd put himself within distance of the mystery knocker, so it made sense that they were louder. He bustled through the store in a hurry, careful not to knock something off the shelves or make a ruckus.

If the knocker was someone who was in need of help, he'd be more than happy to oblige, despite the strangeness of the hour. If not... well, he couldn't bear to think of the alternative. Violence wasn't something Wander enjoyed.

Wander was a little cautious, though...

With the high amount of crime the neighborhood had been receiving lately, courtesy of the ultimate ruler of the universe and his army of Watchdogs, it was no wonder that stores were being broken into by bandits and bad people whose intentions were almost as bad as said ruler's on a daily basis. What mystified him was how _his_ store hadn't been looted by these people... _yet_.

It was probably due to his large size and appearance, as well as the horn that sat upon his nose, that he had been spared the horror of having lost his merchandise to a bunch of ruffians. He supposed he should feel thankful for this, but he wasn't.

As he rushed to the door, which led out into the snow-covered streets, he was able to see a dark shape dart here and there with probable impatience for the slow shopkeeper. Mentally preparing himself for the worst, he opened the door and cast his eyes into the darkness for the mystery knocker, looking around.

_I hope anythin' bad isn't gonna happen... I wish someone was with me._

"Gosh, I'm not the type to be pickin' fights with someone at this time, and I don't wanna hurt ya, whoever ya are. If ya're _really_ itchin' for somethin' in my store, then come in. No need to dawdle around in the cold when ya can be warm in here!"

Wander flashed his usual smile at the darkness, hoping the stranger would decide to take him up on his offer instead of the alternative. As he began to look around more in the hope he'd find the stranger somewhere within distance, a bright red light suddenly illuminated the surroundings as whatever was producing this light went into Wander's chest.

And the Zbornak keeled over, landing on his back with a _thump _- one which rattled the shelves of the store. His hands went to his large stomach, and he tried to get up but failed due to the immense amount of pain he now felt, wincing and groaning at the same time. And against all his wishes, he felt the warm tip of a ray gun press into his neck ever so slightly. And the attacker came into full view for the first time.

"Ah, Mr. Wander." It was a Watchdog who had attacked him. "Finally. It took you a while to get off your lazy butt and come up here. Honestly, the things you said earlier... it makes me laugh. But enough of that. Stand _up_, and get us into your store. We have things to talk about, and there's only so much time left."

Wander managed to get to his feet, cradling his stomach. For some reason, he flashed that same smile at the Watchdog. Alarms were going off in his mind, though - what was the Watchdog doing here? What did it want with him? He dared not ask questions for fear he might be answered with a blast from the ray gun the Watchdog had on its person at this moment, so he stayed silent as they went into the store and closed the door shut on the elements outside.

The Watchdog took a chair and sat upon it without asking the shopkeeper first, glaring at him as he stood in front of it. It cleared its throat (that is, if it had one).

"Do you know why I am here at this hour, Mr. Wander?" the army recruit asked impatiently. It seemed tired and cranky. "If you don't, I'm just going to explain things to you."

"Nope, I don't know. But can I ask ya somethin'?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't ya have a name? Like, a name ya use every day?" It was typical of Wander to ask questions in the face of danger, oblivious to its severity until the very last moment. However, in this case, he wasn't oblivious. But he was trying to be as polite as he could be with this potential enemy; he honestly didn't believe in fighting fire with fire, so to say. Not even if his life was about to be taken.

"Why would I tell you my name, being the uneducated yokel you are?" A brief blast to Wander's stomach again, resulting in said victim groaning in pain. The Watchdog smiled in its own unique way, enjoying the pain it wreaked upon Wander. Then it frowned and the moment of merriment was over. "Stop asking pointless questions! Let's just get on with what I was sent for."

"So... You are Wander, correct? The guy who keeps this shop?"

"Yup! What do ya need? I have all sorts of things in here!" Wander happily gestured at the shelves, filled with merchandise and goods. The pain was still there, and he winced every now and then. "There's jellyfish pies, sugar cubes, blankets and stuff like that... Oh, and there's a wooden Zbornak bust 'round here somewhere if ya're interested in that..."

He trailed off, sounding absent-minded as he recalled the bust to his mind, remembering how it looked.

"I don't need anything from you," the Watchdog said. "I... I mean, we - the army, that is - need _you_. Not your stuff, and if I really did want them, I wouldn't have bothered going in here. I'd have just looted the store and taken what I wanted without paying you, then set it on fire; the result would have killed you and those around you. Be thankful I didn't choose to go in that direction."

Wander was silent as he drank in the eyeball's words, ignoring what it'd said after 'need you'. "So, ya need me to help?"

"Yes. We require your help."

"With what? If it's anythin' like ya guys do all the time, then sorry, I can't do that..." Wander was preparing for the inevitable. If the need arose, he could probably intimidate this little army recruit, since it was so much smaller and weaker than him; it was Wander who boasted an obvious advantage over it in this situation, after all. "I only love helpin' folks out, not hurtin' em like ya do."

"...Actually, no. We _want_ to recruit you into our army. The army. Lord Hater's army. I advise you to join us, and to calm your fears, no, there will be no harm we ask of you to do... only if we really insist upon it. If you want to know more about this, I invite you to come with me to one of the airships stationed nearby so we can talk in detail and in peace," the Watchdog said. "I believe it is the best way to discuss your recruitment into the army, and if there are _any_ problems with you accepting _this_ job, we can talk about that on the way. Oh, and I apologize for the earlier use of my ray gun against you, as it was in my best interests to keep you quiet."

The Watchdog did not sound sincere. Rather, it sounded like it was amused.

"Just let me go get some of my things, okay? Give me a few minutes."

Before the Watchdog had even begun to formulate a reply, Wander zipped down into the hallway and into his room to give himself some time to think. Did he want to join the Watchdog army? Or did he want to remain a shopkeeper who always sold things to any and all clients who came calling? But he had no choice. If the army indeed wanted him, then there was no choice but to join them. Evading them when they wanted you was no easy task, and if they located you, it resulted in a public execution at one of the towns on the planet - no question about it.

The orange Zbornak hadn't wanted this to happen, but he supposed he had to make do. Life often threw unexpected things into the mix, and more often than not, you had to take them. It was bitter medicine in a way.

He looked at the beloved blanket on the floor, and decided to take it, scooping it up into his hands. _This won't work. I don't have a bag large enough to store somethin' like this, so how can I carry it? Gosh, how? Wait, maybe this will do it!_

Wander wrapped the blanket around his shoulders, and made it so that it would not fall off his person at any time. It was a poncho now; he was going to wear it just to distinguish himself greatly from his possible future co-workers, who were dressed up in their usual garb. Orange, pink, and blue - those were emblazoned on the poncho. And he wanted to be as different as fire and water.

He went into the store, and he glanced around for the Zbornak bust. Once he located it, he blew any dust that might have been present on it and stored it in his poncho. It was important, this bust. He didn't know why, but it was, and he had to keep it.

"Okay, can we go?" Wander asked, and the Watchdog nodded.

"You might want to post a notice on the front of the store - if you want to take the position we're offering you, it would be advisable to inform your customers beforehand. But if you really don't want to inform the poor idiots, we'll just send a group of Watchdogs to set fire to this store; you'll be paid in full for the damages with what you'll earn while working with us. You probably have nothing to lose from this, anyway," it said, laughing a little as they went out into the night. It was pointing its gun at Wander. It was evident that it thought Wander would attempt to attack it without the company of its fellows. "I mean, all you have is that poncho thing. What else?"

Indeed, Wander had only the blanket-turned-poncho and the small Zbornak bust.


End file.
